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SHINSEKI IN THE HOT SEAT: ‘I AM PERSONALLY ANGERED AND SADDENED’ – CNN’s Chris Frates previews the VA secretary’s testimony this morning amid the growing scandal: “Under fire after veterans died waiting for appointments at VA hospitals, Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki will say Thursday that he is ‘angered and saddened’ but won't be providing much detail about how his department is correcting the problems, according to prepared congressional testimony obtained by CNN. In fact, Shinseki, who is scheduled to testify in front of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on Thursday, won't even acknowledge that there are problems.

-- “According to the written testimony, Shinseki will say the VA Inspector General's Office, which has launched an independent investigation, has advised the department not to provide information that could compromise their inquiry. ‘I am personally angered and saddened by any adverse consequence that a veteran might experience while in, or as a result of, our care,’ he says in the prepared testimony.

-- “Last month, CNN revealed that at least 40 veterans died waiting for appointments at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care system, according to sources inside the hospital and a doctor who worked there. Many of those veterans were placed on a secret waiting list, the sources said.” Shinseki will say he’s invited a VA Office of Inspector General investigation into the matter. “‘If these allegations are true, they are completely unacceptable -- to veterans, to me and to our dedicated VHA employees,’ Shinseki says in the prepared testimony. ‘If they are substantiated by OIG, responsible and timely action will be taken.’ Shinseki also said that he has placed three employees, including two senior executives, on administrative leave at the request of the Inspector General's office.” http://cnn.it/1nPxPyW

-- SHINSEKI will appear before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, at 10 a.m. in Dirksen 106.

-- PRESIDENT OBAMA is dispatching Rob Nabors,one of his top White House aides, to oversee a review of the VA as it grapples with the firestorm, the AP’s Julie Pace reports. Nabors “will be temporarily assigned to the VA to work on a review focused on policies for patient safety rules and the scheduling of patient appointments, officials said Wednesday. The move signals Obama's growing concern over problems at the department, particularly recent reports that hospital administrators in Phoenix kept an off-the-books list to conceal long wait times as 40 veterans died waiting to get an appointment.” http://bit.ly/1iNkH8i

-- GOP LEADER MITCH McCONNELL will address the VA controversy in his opening remarks on the Senate floor: “The Veterans Administration needs to get to the bottom of how widespread this problem has become. My concern is that the Obama Administration will treat this scandal like it does all the others…like a political crisis to get past rather than a serious problem to be solved.”

MORE TOUGH WORDS FROM McCONNELL’S ONE-TIME MENTOR -- “Former GOP Senator Who First Hired McConnell Slams Him for Opposing Obamacare,” David Corn writing in Mother Jones: “By mounting a crusade to repeal Obamacare, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell has betrayed the residents of Kentucky—so says the former Republican senator from the Bluegrass State who gave McConnell his first job in politics. In 1968, the year after McConnell graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Law, Marlow Cook, a moderate Republican running for an open US Senate seat in Kentucky, hired McConnell as his campaign's state youth chairman. McConnell, who had previously served two internships in Washington for Kentucky politicians, ‘fit in very well’ with the campaign, Cook recalls, because he had been state president of the Young Ripon Society, an organization of moderate GOPers. And after Cook won the Senate seat, he offered McConnell a job as a legislative aide. …

-- “… Cook is mystified by his former staffer's journey to the right. ‘I am absolutely amazed he became a conservative,’ Cook, now 87 years old, says. And he is aghast that McConnell is a fierce advocate of killing President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. ‘If he had any knowledge of the lack of health and medical facilities in the hills of Kentucky,’ Cook says, ‘he'd know it's a problem we need to solve. For Mitch McConnell to decide the new health program is not good for Kentucky—it tells me he's not looking out for his own constituency.’ …

-- “‘I don't know what Mitch is doing,’ Cook says. ‘If he thinks this whole thing should be killed, it's an awful crap shoot. Instead of stopping [Obamacare], they should be correcting the things in the bill that need correcting. But to say it should be killed? I know what the real, real conservative Republicans want. They would love to get rid of Medicare. They would love to get rid of Social Security.’” http://bit.ly/T65OJA

-- Corn points out that Cook did endorse John Kerry in 2004, saying he was disgusted by the Iraq war and the debt. And a quick Google search found that Cook had sounded off about McConnell and the GOP’s rightward shift during the 2012 election, predicting a second Obama term “would not hurt this country one bit.” http://bit.ly/1qFp6E3

TOP DEMS RALLY BEHIND CONYERS – Marissa Shultz reports for the Detroit News: “Prominent Democratic leaders have rallied around Rep. John Conyers in the day since the longest-serving African-American member of Congress was booted from the primary ballot and prepared to mount a costly write-in campaign. The Michigan Democratic Party, national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Michigan AFL-CIO and the most powerful Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives — Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi — have pledged to help Conyers win re-election since the Detroit Democrat was deemed ineligible for the Aug. 5 ballot Tuesday by Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett. ‘He has my full support,’ Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement, ‘and I am confident he will prevail at the polls this fall.’ …

-- “Democratic leaders say Conyers deserves their loyalty for nearly 50 years of service, leadership on the Judiciary Committee and civil rights activism in the U.S. House. He’s poised to become the new dean of the House in January with the retirement of the longest-serving member, Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn.” http://bit.ly/1jL9xpI

-- The Detroit News also reports that the political consultant hired by Conyers to collect signatures acknowledged that “he did not check to make sure the petition collectors he hired were registered voters as required by Michigan law.” But he said Conyers should not lose his job over the error. http://bit.ly/1svrucm

POLITICO WINS FIRST EMMY! -- Our own Matt Sobocinski has won an EMMY in the “Politics and Government – News Single Story” category for his video in Politico Magazine, “Dukakis and the Tank: The Making of a Political Disaster.’’ The award was from the National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Matt’s gold statuette will arrive in June. Watch his award-winning video here: http://politi.co/1lhaLa3

JEOPARDY:WHAT IS POLITICO? -- “HERE’S OUR FIRST CLUE ABOUT THIS WEBSITE, COVERING D.C. SINCE 2007 & NAMED FROM SLANG FOR AN ELECTEE.” Watch Alex Trebec here:politi.co/1mW8VAK

GOOD THURSDAY MORNING, May 15, 2014, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of all the action on Capitol Hill. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to swong@politico.com. If you don’t already, please follow me on Twitter @scottwongDC.

TODAY IN CONGRESS – The House is not in session this week. The Senate meets at 9:30 a.m. and at 11:15 a.m. will hold a series of votes on executive and judicial nominations. The chamber also could hold a procedural vote today on the tax-extenders package.

AROUND THE HILL – Sens. Tom Harkin,Dick Durbin, Chris Murphy and Brian Schatz, along with the Young Invincibles, hold a press conference urging the Department of Education to hold for-profit schools accountable to students and taxpayers, at 10:30 a.m. in S-115. Also at 10:30, Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte hold a news conference about Benghazi in the Senate Studio. Vice President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the 33rd Annual National Peace Officers' Memorial Service at 11 a.m. at the Capitol. Media inquiries and RSVPs should be directed to Tim Richardson at trichardson@fop.net.

Sens. Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer and Patty Murray speak on affordable college education at noon in the Senate Studio. Senate Small Business Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell, ranking member Jim Risch, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and others honor Small Business Person of the Year Award winners at 2:15 p.m. in Russell 428A.

REID: I CAN’T VOTE FOR OBAMA JUDICIAL PICK – BuzzFeed’s Kate Nocera: “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Wednesday said he opposes to the nomination of President Obama’s pick for the federal bench, Georgia state Judge Michael Boggs, pointing to his history of controversial positions on issues ranging from abortion to the confederate flag. Although Reid didn’t foreclose the possibility of eventually being convinced, he made clear he is deeply troubled by Boggs’ past. … “Unless I have a better explanation. I can’t vote for him. This is a lifetime appointment [Reid told BuzzFeed]. He’s said some things and made some decisions I think are not very good.’ Progressive groups and several Democratic members of Congress have openly questioned and fought with the Obama administration over Boggs, who as a state legislator supported abortion restrictions, the Confederate flag and opposed same-sex marriage.” http://bzfd.it/1hLWAXZ

GOP COULD LET TAX EXTENDERS MOVE FORWARD – Michael Catalini reports for National Journal: “Usually when Majority Leader Harry Reid prevents Republicans from offering amendments, GOP senators block the underlying bill. At least, that was how Republicans handled the recently dispatched energy-efficiency bill, which went down earlier this week. But there are signs that even if Reid blocks amendments on legislation to extend expired tax provisions, known as tax extenders, Republicans won't prevent the bill from coming to the floor. ‘There's probably a lot more support among Republicans for tax extenders than there perhaps was for energy efficiency,’ said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the chamber's No. 3 Republican. The difference, according to lawmakers, is that some of the roughly 60 provisions in the tax-extenders package benefit constituents in some way.” http://bit.ly/1iWY5Xw

PELOSI: ROVE’S REMARKS ONLY MAKE HILLARY STRONGER – CNN’s Dana Davidsen: In an interview Wednesday with Wolf Blitzer, Nancy Pelosi dismissed Karl Rove’s suggestion that Hillary Clinton’s fall and concussion may have left her with brain injury. “Pelosi believes Rove’s statements will only boost her popularity as she weighs whether to launch a bid for the 2016 presidential nomination. ‘I think Hillary's strength, the popularity that she's enjoyed has driven the Republicans to their wit’s end. What he said is just - he only makes her stronger,’ she said. Clinton's health has been tested by her tenure as America’s top diplomat and her 2008 run for president, Pelosi said, and besides, she added, Rove is nearly as old Clinton.” http://cnn.it/1lAE3lG

BURWELL VOWS TO GET BACK MISSPENT OBAMACARE FUNDS – Jennifer Haberkorn reports for the hometown paper: “The Obama administration’s new pick to run Obamacare said she would use ‘the full extent of the law’ to recover any federal funds that have been misspent on the state Obamacare exchanges that have failed. ‘Where the federal government and the taxpayer has had funds misused, we need to use the full extent of the law to get those funds back for the taxpayer,’ Sylvia Mathews Burwell said Wednesday in her confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee. Burwell has broad support among Democrats and the backing of some prominent Republicans, such as Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and John McCain of Arizona, both of whom testified on her behalf. Her confirmation seems all but locked up, although Republicans still used the hearing to express their continued opposition to the health care law.” http://politi.co/1v8JBsF

BROUN’S SON ARRESTED ON DRUG CHARGE – The AP: “The son of Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Broun has been arrested on marijuana possession charges in Georgia. Court officials in Athens say 23-year-old Paul Broun III is due in court June 16 on charges of marijuana possession and failure to obey a traffic control device. A police incident report says Broun and another 23-year-old man were pulled over because their car was stopped beyond the stop line at an intersection Saturday. Police say they smelled marijuana, and the men denied having drugs. Police say they found marijuana in a console during a search. It's unclear if the younger Broun has an attorney, and he declined to comment on the charges Wednesday. Broun's father is currently locked in a heated race for the GOP nomination for an open U.S. Senate seat.” http://abcn.ws/RUdc9W

WEDNESDAY’S TRIVIA WINNER – Casey Becker was first to correctly answer that the Lewis & Clark Expedition launched exactly one century before May 14, 1904, the date the Olympic Games were held in the United States for the first time, in St. Louis.

TODAY’S TRIVIA – Casey Becker has today’s question: Of the eight large paintings in the Capitol Rotunda, four were completed by the same man. Who was this man and what state was he from? First person to send the correct answer to swong@politico.com gets a mention in tomorrow’s Huddle.

GET HUDDLE emailed to your Blackberry, iPhone or other mobile device each morning. Just enter your email address where it says “Sign Up.” http://www.politico.com/huddle/

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